The Top 100 Dallas-Area Songs of 2016.

Counting Down From 60 to 41.

This time of year, it’s become a bit of a tradition around here for us to not only count down the last few pages on the calendar, but also the best songs to come out of North Texas in the past 12 months. As I think we’ve shown in years past, the results are pretty much always diverse, with a few seemingly out-of-left-field choices in some pretty high-ranking slots. This year, in a countdown that will be unveiled in chunks day by day for the rest of the year, you’ll find some Grammy nominees alongside brand new bands that just started up this year, as well as some high school acts and, well, everything else in between. The one thing they have in common? They all put out fire in 2016.

Most of the year-end coverage we’ve seen out there thus far have been of the negative variety, fixating on how many legendary musicians passed away this year, and overall equating 2016 to one big dumpster fire.

But that’s only part of the picture. On the more optimistic end of the spectrum, the local music scene has been quite lit these past 12 months. As we’ve begun to show this week through our continuing countdown of the top 100 local songs of the year, yes, things are pretty good on this front.

To that end, we’re continuing that accentuation of the positive below by dropping another 20 tracks on you. As you’ll notice, the closer we get to the top of the list, the more each of these songs really brings it. From new dance sensations to artists refusing to sophomore slump, this batch of 20 is solid through and through.

Give each and every one of them a spin and remind yourself that there is some good left in the world. — Cory Graves